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The Family Research Laboratory of the University of New Hampshire
released a study which showed that the more often a child is spanked,
the lower they score in IQ tests four years later. Their paper was
described by researcher Dr. Murray Straus at the World Congress of
Sociology on 1998-AUG-1 in Montreal, Quebec. They examined 960 American
children who were between one and four years old between 1986 and 1990.
The researchers do not attribute the lower IQ tests directly to physical
injuries sustained during the spanking. Rather, they believe that
parents who do not spank are forced to use more reasoning and explaining
while disciplining the child. "Some parents think this is a waste of
time, but research shows that such verbal parent-child interactions
enhance the child's cognitive ability." Thirteen percent of the parents
studied reported spanking their children seven or more times a week. The
average was 3.6 spankings per week. Twenty-seven percent reported using
no physical punishment. Those children who were spanked frequently
averaged 98 on their IQ tests. Those who were rarely or never spanked
scored 102 -- an above-average score. The four point average decline in
IQ among the spanked students is sufficient to have a negative
functional effect on those children. Ms. Dawn Walker, executive director
of the Canadian Institute of Child Health commented: "We know that
children who are under the threat of violence or aggression develop a
fight-or-flight response system that has an impact on creativity and
imagination, both of which could influence their IQ...Children need
discipline but not hitting." 4

--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin